Political Junky
Gold Member
- May 27, 2009
- 25,793
- 3,990
Small countries like China? Try again.Just out of curiosity... why are bullet trains impractical in the US?Bullet trains never crash?...The Chinese, French, Italians, Japanese, et al. are laughing at us...
Bullet trains are not practical in the US --- anyone who proposes them either 1) doesn't understand them, or 2) builds them and is trying to get rich by screwing the public.
Bullet trains are effective in small countries - the distance between ticket selling locations is small. Thus, they are able to sell tickets for shorter runs, thus driving down the cost-per-mile to make it cost effective. Using bullet trains to go from LA to Chicago, or Cincinnatti to Dallas just isn't economically feasible.
In addition, using the bullet train presumes a robust public transportation system in the cities. We don't have that - anywhere. When you arrive at the station, you're still 15 miles from your office. I was in Southern California when they put commuter trains in for only gazillions of dollars. I tried to use it --- the best schedule I was able to arrange was 4 hours 20 minutes, 5 train changes, and the closest stop to my office was about 4 miles.